Patience in adaptation: both Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton still need more time to find their rhythm together, but 2026 could be the year of a decisive breakthrough. This is the opinion of Claire Williams, former deputy team principal of the historic Williams Formula 1 squad. According to the British executive, the seven-time World Champion has “fulfilled a dream” by joining the Scuderia Ferrari, and nobody is better placed than him to make this partnership truly work.
Three races from the end of Lewis Hamilton’s debut season with Ferrari, drawing a positive balance remains difficult. The British driver has taken one Sprint victory on the Saturday in Shanghai, but he has not appeared on the podium of any Grand Prix. Progress has nevertheless been visible over the season, especially after the summer break. However, the seven-time World Champion is still missing something to return to the performance level of his most dominant years at Mercedes.
Claire Williams pointed out that “I think we may all have underestimated how difficult it is for a driver to change teams. Lewis was at Mercedes for such a long time and, when he first arrived in Brackley, that team was in a sense new. He was able to shape it in the way he perhaps wanted, and now he has moved to a truly different team with a deeply different culture.”
Claire Williams: “Ferrari is every driver’s dream”
“Ferrari is Italian, they have their fans, and they have a very different way of doing things,” added the entrepreneur, daughter of Sir Frank Williams. “Even someone with the calibre and experience of Lewis will still need some time to settle in. He wanted to go to Ferrari to fulfil the childhood dream that I believe every Formula 1 driver has: wearing the red suit with the Prancing Horse.”
Claire Williams continued by saying: “I think we just need to give him a bit more time and see what happens at the start of 2026. Sometimes these changes work, sometimes they do not. But I suppose that if anyone can make it work, it is probably Lewis Hamilton.”
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